Reasons of Donor Deferral for a Single Donor Plateletpheresis in a Public Sector Blood Transfusion Centre of Lahore: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background & objective: Plateletpheresis is a process by which platelets are extracted from a donor.
Deferred donors are those who are not eligible to donate blood due to medical history or serological testing.
The aim of this study was to examine the reasons of donor deferral for a single donor plateletpheresis in a
public sector blood transfusion centre of Lahore
Methods: This cross-sectionalstudy was conducted at department of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine,
University of Child Health Sciences Lahore including 50 plateletpheresis donors who voluntarily came for
donation. The donor questionnaire included brief medical history, general physical examination. Haematological
parameters such as haemoglobin and the donor blood screening was done to determine fitness for the
plateletpheresis. The reasons for deferral of donors were noted after all work-up was done. Informed consent
was taken before plateletpheresis using COM.TEC Cell Separator instrument. Data were managed and
analysed using SPSS version 20.
Results: Of 50 donors, 34 donors were approved for procedure and 16 were deferred due to different temporary
and permanent reasons. Donors were aged between 18 to 50 years. Major reason for temporary deferral was
poor venous access (n=7, 14%), followed by low haemoglobin value (n=4, 8%). Permanent reasons for
deferral were seropositive for HbsAg (n=2, 4%), seropositive for HCV(n=4, 8%) and tattoo (n=1, 2%).
Conclusion: During donor selection for plateletpheresis, transfusion services should be very careful
regarding donor safety measures and should consider low haemoglobin level as the reason of donor deferral.
Screening for endemic transmissible infectious diseases in Pakistan should also be considered.